Perry’s Pride

June 3, 2017

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9 minutes read

Perry Meade has worked on Saturn cars for a living out of Greenfield, IN for several years. However, one thing he always had an interest in was VW’s. In fact, he’s had the VW flu for some time now, 12 years to be exact. The list of the VW cars he has owned, previous to this sharp and squeaky clean 1965 Notchback, include a ’69 VW Beetle, a ’65 Baja, a ’73 VW Baja, ’69 Squareback, ’70 Beetle, ’62 Karmann Ghia, ’64 VW Karmann Ghia, ’66 and ’67 Deluxe Type 2’s, and a ’62 Crew cab (our ed’s note: No wonder people from Indiana say that there are no old VW’s left in their dang state!) . His current daily driver is an awesome semaphore-equipped ’55 Beetle, but for weekends and car shows, this hot looking Notch gets the nod.

The story of how Perry came to find this Notchback is worth repeating and telling again. Perry had talked to an older gent that said he knew that there might be another old gent in Farmersburg, IN, that had some old cars stored in a barn. Perry was living in Terre Haute around that time, and he and another VW buddy decided to go out on a “treasure hunt” and try to find the fabled “old gent with the barn cars.” They drove into Farmersburg, and started asking people, asking perfect strangers, if they know of an older man in town that had a bunch of old Volkswagen cars in a barn. After not having much success, they hit the big jackpot; they found someone who knew the old man they were talking about and got exact directions to the house.

They arrived soon after, and introduced themselves and told him the reason for their surprise visit. After visiting with the man for a little while and admiring some of the old man’s hand-built cars that he had constructed over the years, Perry and his friend were then led to a barn, and lo and behold, behind some American muscle cars, was a 1965 Type III Notchback with still the original Sea Blue paint and in reasonably good condition, missing only the original engine. Perry tried for long over four hours to talk the old gent into selling him the notch, but he just wouldn’t do it. Dejected, Perry gave up shortly after, vowing to return. But he never did.

A year and a half went by, and then one day at church, Perry sees some VW friends that tell him excitedly about this blue Type III Notchback they had just bought from an old gent out of a barn in Farmersburg.

Dejected once again, Perry gave up instantly on ever seeing the Notch in his driveway.

Almost two years later, Perry has relocated to Greenfield IN, and finds himself looking through a local Auto Trader magazine. What do you know, there was a 1965 Notchback for sale, the one he wanted possibly?! Perry immediately made the phone call, hoping that the car would be as “buildable” as the one that got away not long ago.

Guess what? It was “that” Notchback, the original one he wanted. The couple said that they always knew that Perry would be the first one to call. Not wanting to lose this Notch again, Perry borrowed the $600 cash from a good friend, Glen Vermillion, to buy it. Finally, the car was his.

What Perry now finally managed to get his hands on, was a 62,000 mile original Notchback that reportedly belonged to a doctor in the late U.S. Air Force, stationed in Germany. When the doctor returned home to the States, he had the car shipped to his home, and subsequently sold the car to the old man that Perry had initially tried to buy the car from. Now, it was time to get down to work.

Since the old floorpan had already been cleaned and painted, all Perry had to do was lower the front by one notch and add some lowered shocks and some Flat4 BRM wheels. After going through the braking system, Perry turned his steady attention to the power train. He used an original single relief case which was line-bored and put back into running service, along with some Cima/Mahle 85.5mm pistons and pushed the cylinders to a 1600cc displacement. A Melling higher volume oil pump was attached, and an Engle 110 cam. The rest of the engine remained pretty much stock. Perry detailed the engine sheet metal in Sea Blue and slate black. Topped off with a nice and original Solex dual carburetor system seen on most Notchbacks, the engine was now complete.

The transaxle on Perry’s Notch was in good shape and needed only a thorough cleaning and service before being put back. An EMPI trigger shifter was used for gear selection.

Moving on to the cars body, Perry performed all the necessary dent and ding removal himself, and then took out his spray gun and applied the Sea Blue base coat/clear coat. Perry located an NOS front bumper and re-chromed the rear.

All glass, including the factory-tinted windshield, were then re-installed. T.M.I. was called upon to provide the Grey basket weave seat upholstery, and also added was salt and pepper carpet.

All of the interior, as well as the rest of the work on the Notch was done by Perry. He now had the Notch of his dreams: The one that had gotten away and then come back to him, and he wanted to take it to some local shows.

Almost every time he shows the car, he comes home with a 1st place in his class, a testament to his hard work and attention to detail.

One notable exception to his 1st place winning streak was at the Cincinnati VW club’s annual Family Reunion, at G.E. Park in Cincinnati, where we first spotted this notch. Here, the Notch took the Best of Show.

Perry would like to thank his wife, Melissa, for all of her patience and understanding of his Volkswagen obsession. As well, he would like to thank his friend Glen, for loaning him the cash for the Notch when it became available again.

This should be proof positive to all of you diehard VW heads out there–never give up. Perry didn’t, and he ended up with one sweet Notchback to show for his persistence and determination.

We’ll bet that this is one VW that will never get away from Perry again!

Aircooled Magazine Staff is a group of car lovers, editors, and writers who have a passion for aircooled Volkswagen cars. Besides being all around car nerds and proud owners of VW's, our staff is dedicated to providing you breaking news, reviews, and tutorials.